They were $47 including shipping, that's the best I could do after a few offers. Well worth it if you ask me. They are like bibles with those thin pages.
There are a ton of pages dedicated to decoding the VIN, which we pretty much know about, but also they have the complete breakdown of door stickers and there is a whole lot of stuff there even down to, did an XLT have pin stripes and if so what color combo was it.
Here's a curious thing: in the sample stickers, of which they have quite a few, you see tires 235/75R15. We know that's pretty standard. The other tire they show is a 265/70R17. This is really odd, since to my knowledge that was never offered oem. Entirely possible that was just a carryover from something, but what? Aerostar wouldn't have taken that wheel/tire. On the other hand, it -could- fit a Ranger, right? (31.4") Are the techs sending a message or is it just a blip? I think '97 F150 may have use that tire so maybe they just didn't care what tires were on the sample sticker. In fact, I'm having a really hard time finding anything about tires in the manuals except it tells you all about the spare and its mounting. Is it possible they simply don't address it because it's a non-issue to the mechanic, he gives it to the tire guy to do that?
You have all the spring specs in there. You have, like, everything down to if you have a Ranger with a bent frame here's the measurements to set it right (not something your average home shop would be doing!)
You could do a complete engine rebuild or partial rebuild, it's all there. Granted depending what it is, you probably need specialized tools/equipment.
One thing that's nice is a lot of diags to tell you the steps to find what is wrong with something (like, electrical).
Oh, and, if I ever wanted to wire my Pioneer changer (could have been oem, mine wasn't as it's dated 1999, unless it was a replace - 2 of the 3 wires are installed under the carpet), it gives you the pin-outs for both the changer and the stereo. Personally I kind of like the hand-held control it's nifty. If it were in fact wired to the stereo, which would/should have been an oem install, you could still disconnect the 5-pin from the unit and plug in the hand-held with no ill effect. In the process of "fixing" the changer, at the time I didn't have the radio error codes so I assumed changer was bad, bought another (dated 2000) for $40 which is a pretty good price. Then found out radio was telling me 'it's not connected' so I pulled the radio, couldn't find where the 5-pin wire was coming in, so went back to the changer side and started pulling on the wire and guess what out popped the hand held. So now I have 2 good changers, sort of a waste except I have 2 carriages now for the discs which is nice and I suppose if/when I sold it, it's a plus to have a spare of this old unit. They work very well - finds disc/tracks real fast.
Kind of off topic, anyway, point is, there should be directions for literally anything in there. So if I ever wanted to hook up the changer I could take those pin outs to an audio tech and they could do it for me.
On the cruise buttons, all I found so far is GL1148-A but I'm thinking that's maybe not a part number or it's incomplete or something. Will look more. Point is, if I know the part number for it, then I'll know if '97 Taurus or - maybe '97 Aerostar - is a match. And by the way yes they are backlit, each side has a ground and live for it besides the other pins circuits.
Also have not totally ruled out removing guts and putting into other buttons, but they are pretty beat up so if I could find a new set it'd be good.
Cruise buttons is a downside of '97 I guess - one of few though if you ask me. Rear doors is the other one, until you go to work on something there you don't realize how nice doors are. But rear setup is much better, jump seats tuck nicely to the sides, and there's no jack holder, and -no hump- (!) so it's just nicer than later ones. Except for the doors missing. And really there's not much to work on back there, I'm freeing up the balky cargo cover. Otherwise you wouldn't be working there unless you were upgrading speakers or had to fix window moldings (mine are good).
Lots of interesting things in the manual, like, it looks to me as if replacing a bed is almost child's play, which makes me think, someone expected they would get beat up and replaced.
Enough from me on it. Bottom line is, if you do anything besides changing oil etc then I see the manuals as indispensable.
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